We can all complain about the Kessel deal all we want, it is not bringing him back to a Bruins uniform.

What fans must look at it is this..Why can someone like Kessel have been so happy to have been drafted by the Bruins , yet , things turned so sour they he would not consider playing for them again?

That, I believe is a very serious issue that NOT ONE Of the sports writers have dared to question Peter Chiarelli about...

How can a young man who battled testicular cancer at such a young age, who still produced in his rookie campaign MORE than Joe Thornton ever did or Sergie Samsonov, yet , he could not wait to get the heck OUTTAHERE!

Now, I know that some of you may say that Kessel is a spoiled brat..but is that not true of most of these players that have been pampered and treated with kid gloves since their superior God given talents were on display?

The Bruins organization , I believe, do not have a clue how to help these young players transition . Instead, they badger them, try to diminish their natural skills by highlighting what the player does NOT do well, in this case, making an example of Kessel's inability or lack of desire to backcheck.

I strongly believe that CLEANSING this organization from the TOP to the Bottom is the ONLY way the Bruin's will EVER win again..

To the Bruins, winning means MAKING the playoffs. The bar is set low, very low.

They destroy young players and do not have the ability to recognize talent.

I am disgusted with them!

Tonite I watched a team UNABLE to score on a FREAKIN EMPTY NET!! There closest opponent was handed a point due to this failure ( and TT's flub up too).

Yet, Phil Kessel and his 8 goals ( which are more than ALL OTHER BRUINS) was the problem? I just don't get it!!!

Freakin Jacobs, Freakin Chiarelli, they s uck and if they do wind up with a lottery pick ( watch out, Toronto can score- 6 goals the other nite), the Bruins will find a way to f up the draft pick too!!

The old Bruins management, Sinden and MOC did worse things. Every negotiation was very public and very ugly. It was that management that nickel and dimed Ray Bourque.

This management, the PC management, say what you will, but there was no public bashing to speak of. For the most part everything happened behind closed doors. This is friendlier to players, rather than calling them out publicly in a very explicit way. As I said, for the most part things were done behind closed doors, yet a few comments were made publicly, but not many.

This organization is working toward a reputation of a player friendly environment, witness Aaron Ward getting traded to where his home is - Carolina. Players notice that stuff.

This management exhibits growth. Mistakes were made and corrected. Sinden had a formula that worked and never changed, same old same old year in year out. Defense first and lunch pail hockey. And when things went really south, get 2 enforcers and have plenty of fights every night. Those days are gone. They had one coach, Dave Lewis, who helped drive Mara, Boyes, Jurcina out of town. They learned, one player not with the program, fine, but no wholesale renovations.

We can all complain about the Kessel deal all we want, it is not bringing him back to a Bruins uniform. What fans must look at it is this..Why can someone like Kessel have been so happy to have been drafted by the Bruins , yet , things turned so sour they he would not consider playing for them again? That, I believe is a very serious issue that NOT ONE Of the sports writers have dared to question Peter Chiarelli about... How can a young man who battled testicular cancer at such a young age, who still produced in his rookie campaign MORE than Joe Thornton ever did or Sergie Samsonov, yet , he could not wait to get the heck OUTTAHERE! Now, I know that some of you may say that Kessel is a spoiled brat..but is that not true of most of these players that have been pampered and treated with kid gloves since their superior God given talents were on display? The Bruins organization , I believe, do not have a clue how to help these young players transition . Instead, they badger them, try to diminish their natural skills by highlighting what the player does NOT do well, in this case, making an example of Kessel's inability or lack of desire to backcheck. I strongly believe that CLEANSING this organization from the TOP to the Bottom is the ONLY way the Bruin's will EVER win again.. To the Bruins, winning means MAKING the playoffs. The bar is set low, very low. They destroy young players and do not have the ability to recognize talent. I am disgusted with them! Tonite I watched a team UNABLE to score on a FREAKIN EMPTY NET!! There closest opponent was handed a point due to this failure ( and TT's flub up too). Yet, Phil Kessel and his 8 goals ( which are more than ALL OTHER BRUINS) was the problem? I just don't get it!!! Freakin Jacobs, Freakin Chiarelli, they s uck and if they do wind up with a lottery pick ( watch out, Toronto can score- 6 goals the other nite), the Bruins will find a way to f up the draft pick too!!Posted by anthony3063

So if the bold letters are true for you & you have it all figured out. What are you complaining about?

OK Anthony....You've put some real thought into this. And all of us have read hundreds of opinions and worked through our own emotions and ideas about it. Here's my particular take:

First, the money could have been found to keep Kessel. By trading Kobasew some months earlier and foregoing the Ward-Morris exchange, added to the bit of cap room we still had, the 5+ million could have been scraped up.

Second, Kessel did not "lack character" as some posters say. He battled through plenty of injuries and ailments, well documented.

Third, he was not a total washout as two way player. True, he was not the best of backcheckers, but he did do some of it. During his last few months, I made particular note and watched his positioning and he was indeed covering many of his assignments. He did make some critical backchecking interventions. And he was learning, improving at it.

Fourth, there was the Savard-Kessel magic, rare chemistry between two players and not something to throw away without compelling reason.

Therefore, why was he traded? I think he was tired of being dangled as trade bait and being the constant subject of trade rumor. Who wouldn't be? He wanted out.

AND, I do believe, there was some real locker room friction between him and Coach Julien, and possibly between him and some other players. Again, he wanted out.

No other explanation makes sense. Upper management was faced with a choice-- either fire Julien or trade Kessel. And perhaps-- either trade Kessel or endure the complaints of other players, to the possible point of having to trade the other players instead of Kessel.

If anyone has an explanation that makes more sense, I for one would much like to hear it.

Actually Samsonov had much better stats his first two seasons. Their rookie years aren't even close. Samsonov was rookie of the year. Kessel's best year ( year three ) isn't as good as Sergie's year four. But the problem with Sergie, he became injury prone. Has only played one full season since the Bruins traded him. Time will tell if this is a good deal, Kessel is fun to watch when he lets go of his wrister and scores. But painfully frustrating when he over stick handles and loses an edge in the corner and loses the puck. Just like Segie used to do.

The bruins had no choice but to trade him, the real issue is , they didn't replace that hole that he left and because of this the Bruins are having problems scoring. The organization assumed other players could take up the slack and are finding out the hard way they don't have the talent to fill the hole. The Bruins will have trouble getting that goal they need if the hole isn't filled and as much as I hate to say it' they will not do very well again in the playoffs when they will need the scorer. PC knows it is very difficult but also knows he has to do it to put the best product on the ice he can.

My understanding is that Lucic actually took less money than he could have gotten to stay in Boston? Not sure if this is true.Posted by Bruinfaninnewjersey

Now i don't know about that. I love looch and would hate for him to ever play for another team but lets be real $4mil a year is not taking less money. He is fairly overpaid in my opinion but i'd rather have them overpay him over these other stiffs.(wideman,ryder,rechi,sturm)

The greatest player in NHL history was traded several times. There are too many variables to analyze why Kessel was traded. The fact remains he plays for Toronto. The Bruins will always be a team I support emotionally not financially. The current team remains a young team with potential. They have not finished last for years like Chicago and Pittsburg to amass young talent. For what it is worth, the team still has a chance to win the cup.

There are people on these boards who dislike the kind of post that hints at thouhtful analysis. I want to thank you for starting a thread that actually has a point, however. Although I don't aree with you entirely, Julien's system is flawed.

Kessel: I doubt they had a personality clash and Kessel wasn't being 'held back' per se. Some of you are equating personality clash with a system clash.

Kessel developed his offensive genius under CJ's guidance. Not too shabby. Did Kessel want to do things differently? Probably. But what does he know about coaching and mastering a system that will bring a team all the way? If raw goal-scoring talent was the same as coaching skill, Gretzky would have been the reatest coach ever.

So unless Kessel is a complete idiot, he didn't come in and profess that the whole system had to be changed to suit his own style of play. Nor is a moderately rational player going to hold a permanent grudge for being benched for a game or two before comin back and flourishing into an amazing player.

Kessel's defensive play is lacking but so was that of many a great goal-scorer. Few are capable of genius at both ends, like Bobby Orr. But I'm sure Kessel's not blind to the fact that he learned a lot under CJ.

Having said this...

Julien's System:CJ's system isn't offensively-minded. A player like Kessel is there to score goals, and allowing him to do his thing requires a little flexibility, which Julien doesn't have, it seems. Irrespective of Kessel, this is a massive problem.

I say we forget Kessel but not because we can't bring him back. Forget Kessel because there is enough talent on the team to generate offense without him. I'm tired of reading about how the Bruins need goal-scorers. There are enough talented goal scorers on this team to generate the offense needed to make it deep into the playoffs.

Could it be that the system is too rigid to adapt to the defensive play of other teams? Yes and Julien is proud of this fact. He said so last season. "We're not changing our system in light of what other teams are doing." Well guess what? Survival requires adaptation. Cannot believe he's proud of this rigidity.

He's a great coach and as it stands he can probably even lead the team to the playoffs every year but that's not enough.

The coaches' job is to realize the players' potential. This isn't being done and blaming the players entirely for that is dooming this team because it's killing their confidence. To think that we would conclude that suddenly, every player on the team is slumping-- that's ridiculous. Time to adapt.

The organization assumed other players could take up the slack and are finding out the hard way they don't have the talent to fill the hole. Posted by brunod

Brunod, do you think Wheels is coming on to possibly fill that hole? He's looking better all the time, scoring some, carrying the puck well, shooting lots, generally showing a Kessel-like scoring touch while being much stronger in the checking and team play departments. Agree or not?

I say this even though I have not been a Wheeler fan for the past year. But, yes, he's been impressive lately. IMHO. Yours too?

Wheels is coming on as of late but I don't think he is the true sniper we are looking for yet. He could be in the future but the one we need is still out there and I hope PC gets someone. Savy needs a good winger to play with and Wheels and Bitz just aren't good enough yet as I see Savy struggling and needs aliittle more talent to play with.

I agree that Bitzy isn't a first line player. I don't think CJ is planning on leaving him there. Is it to try & give Savvy some "get his legs back time?" I think the real reason is CJ knows about the scoring problems & he didn't want to just assume that Savvy was going to be able to help immediately. Bergy & Krej have been really coming around for the most part & CJ wanted those 2 to continue improving. With Sturm & Ryder not scoring much either I think that's why those 2 are with the hot centermen. Until Savvy is 100% back.

The greatest player in NHL history was traded several times. There are too many variables to analyze why Kessel was traded. The fact remains he plays for Toronto. The Bruins will always be a team I support emotionally not financially. The current team remains a young team with potential. They have not finished last for years like Chicago and Pittsburg to amass young talent. For what it is worth, the team still has a chance to win the cup. Posted by islamorada

I am a homer when it comes to the Bruins but there is no question that Gretzky was the greatest. Bobby Orr is the major reason why I am a Bruins fan. Now that is honesty. Now, I will say that the current Bruins ownership not management is the worst in NHL history.

if gretzky never scored a single goal he would still be the all time leader in points....no question, gretzky was the best, the smartest hockey player ever...no diss to bobby orr, hes number 2, possibly number 1 in talent

The Bruins organization , I believe, do not have a clue how to help these young players transition . Instead, they badger them, try to diminish their natural skills by highlighting what the player does NOT do well, in this case, making an example of Kessel's inability or lack of desire to backcheck.

While there may have been unresolved issues between Julien and Kessel, I don't see how anyone can make such a sweeping statement regarding this team. Wheeler, Lucic (new contract), Krecji (new contract), Hunwick (new contract), Rask (new contract), and even Bergeron are all young players. Please, explain exactly how they have been badgered and diminished. They must really hate it here to sign new contracts. And Bergeron - with all the serious injuries, has the organization treated him poorly? I'm thinking not.

Going back to Kessel - Like all teams, you can't sign everyone!! Heck, Pittsburg must be poorly managed. They didn't re-sign the high-scoring Hossa before last year. Oh wait, Pittsburg won the Stanley Cup without him, didn't they?

From the original post - The Bruins organization , I believe, do not have a clue how to help these young players transition . Instead, they badger them, try to diminish their natural skills by highlighting what the player does NOT do well, in this case, making an example of Kessel's inability or lack of desire to backcheck. While there may have been unresolved issues between Julien and Kessel, I don't see how anyone can make such a sweeping statement regarding this team. Wheeler, Lucic (new contract), Krecji (new contract), Hunwick (new contract), Rask (new contract), and even Bergeron are all young players. Please, explain exactly how they have been badgered and diminished. They must really hate it here to sign new contracts. And Bergeron - with all the serious injuries, has the organization treated him poorly? I'm thinking not. Going back to Kessel - Like all teams, you can't sign everyone !! Heck, Pittsburg must be poorly managed. They didn't re-sign the high-scoring Hossa before last year. Oh wait, Pittsburg won the Stanley Cup without him, didn't they?Posted by JoeB40

JoeB - Even though I can not compare Kessel to Hossa, I am glad you brought this up. Excellent point of how you can't resign all players.

Can we boycott the use of Kessel's name on this board from now on? I liked watching him score his goals and he made some key plays in the Montreal series last year but he is no longer here. Let's move on please! This team is a quarter into this season and people are still whining about this..... get over it. The Bruins are showing tremendous resiliency this year and have two great goaltenders.... It's the same old story with Boston fans. It is never good enough especially when the team has improved and is now hovering in the top of the conference.... they must be doing something wrong right?